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The only time I’ve been in my sewing room since March has been to make blocks for bees and a challenge quilt for our quilt show. The show was in May and I had signed up in advance to participate in the President’s Challenge. The task was to make a quilt up to 20″ per side using fabric in the shades of a single crayon, plus a neutral fabric.

My crayon was Blue-Green. I took a scribble of it to the fabric store and considered myself lucky to find few that matched. The batik actually has a bit of pink/purple in it, but I cut around it.

I really like this colour, yet no quilt pattern or design came to mind. As the deadline got closer I decided to make an improvisational quilt. That way I didn’t need a plan and could just get going.

Stitched segments waiting to be joined

The Blue-Green reminds me of both water and sky, and I chose to use gentle curves to help create the feeling of undulating water. With only 4 coloured fabrics it was difficult to create a nice design using curves alone, so I added some improv squares.

The black rectangle, left, shows the segment of the patchwork that became the quilt front. This picture was taken in indoor light. The final design is on the right.

In the picture above, the rectangle on the left shows which part of the patchwork is the basis of the quilt. If you compare it to the final quilt (pictured above right), there are three noticeable differences. First, the finished quilt has a portrait orientation whereas the black rectangle seems to have a landscape orientation. The only explanation I can think of is that the quilting, which is very dense and mostly vertical, ate up a lot of width.

Quilting detail, top right corner

The second difference is that the final version has bits of the darkest fabric added to create more visual interest. Lastly, the in-progress quilt top had a straight edge at its bottom and for the final version I (intentionally) cut a wavy edge.

Isn’t it strange how the seam allowances are so visible in the picture on the right? The light source was the same but the quilt on the left was on a light carpet while the picture on the right was on a dark table.

Instead of a binding or facing, this little 10″ x 12″ quilt is finished with a machine satin stitch over embroidery floss.

“This Quilt is Blue-Green not Cerulean, Teal or Turquoise”

Of course the title of this post gives away the ending. The quilt was selected as president’s choice. Actually, it was the choice of our president’s mother. When the president couldn’t make up her mind she sent photos of her top selections to her mother, and her mother chose “This Quilt is Blue-Green not Cerulean, Teal or Turquoise”. I am very honoured.

I can’t believe it’s taken more than a year for my Indian Blanket quilt top (mentioned hereand here) to get quilted, but at last it is done. And only because I sent it to be quilted once I realised I’d too many other quilting priorities.

The triangles don’t line up from row to row, which means straight lines can’t traverse the quilt and properly echo the triangles. That’s why I decided to go for an all-over design with curves. Krista, a local longarm quilter, stitched the Tickle pattern from edge to edge and did a great job. Here’s a detail shot of the back, below. If you click on the photo it’ll open larger in another tab.

Detail of quilt back. The quilting design is easier to see on the back.

Next month this quilt will be delivered to newly-arrived refugees. Both of my guilds are collecting quilts to welcome our new neighbours, and luckily one guild doesn’t require proper bed-size quilts.

These rows from the middle of the quilt are my favourite because I like how the colours work together and how the print ties everything together.